A Study to Examine the Costs and Benefits of the ELV Directive Final Report Annexes

ANNEX 5 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS CHARACTERISATION FACTORS

ANALYSED

AND

A Study to Examine the Costs and Benefits of the ELV Directive Final Report Annexes

CONTENTS
1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.10 1.11 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1 Impact assessment ................................................................................................................ 1 Impact category indicators ..................................................................................................... 1 Sources of uncertainty ........................................................................................................... 1 Total energy ........................................................................................................................... 1 Global warming ...................................................................................................................... 2 Acidifying gas emission and Acidification of land and water ................................................. 2 Formation of photochemical oxidants .................................................................................... 3 Nutrification of land and water (eutrophication potential)....................................................... 3 Water pollution ..................................................................................................................... 4 Impact categories which cannot be derived from life cycle inventory data.......................... 4

A Study to Examine the Costs and Benefits of the ELV Directive Final Report Annexes

1.1

Introduction This annex gives detailed explanations about the environmental impacts (or impact category indicators) and characterisation factors considered in section 8.1 of this report dealing with plastic resins recycling and recovery.

1.2

Impact assessment Reminder (see section 8.1.3: an impact assessment is carried out in order to condense the information contained in the inventory. For this, the environmentally significant material flows compiled in the inventory must be described in terms of their potential impact on the environment.

1.3
Area of protection

Impact category indicators

Consumption of resources Air pollution

Total energy Global warming potential Acidification potential Photochemical oxidation

Water pollution

Eutrophication potential Water pollution (critical volume)

Waste

Municipal waste Hazardous waste

Source: BIO Intelligence Service, 2005 1.4 Sources of uncertainty Two basic kinds of uncertainty have to be distinguished: the first one is due to the calculation modelling (used to describe a physical phenomenon), the other one is introduced as far as the inventory dataset may be reliable and accurate. The soundness of every impact indicator is scored ('+++' high reliability to '+' = very low reliability) in the table above. The scores for the reliability of the calculation methods are representative of the today's state of the art for impact assessment within the LCA framework; additional works are in progress to improve the indicators related to human and ecosystem health. 1.5 Total energy Energy carriers are divided in renewable and non-renewable resources. For determining the energy content of resources, the method considers the fundamental material input and the net calorific value. This is done irrespective of whether the resources are to serve for material purposes or for energy refining. For the latter, the following methodology is generally employed in LCA studies.

A Study to Examine the Costs and Benefits of the ELV Directive Final Report Annexes

The energy demands of an analysed system (as far as fossil fuels are concerned) are traced back in the inventory to the removal of the primary energy carriers from a raw materials source. Based on the material input (given in mass unit in the inventory), the resource demand can be assessed by taking the net calorific value because for the majority of technical applications the net calorific value and not the gross calorific value represents the relevant information. For the assessment hydropower, the potential energy of the water before energy production is assumed in order to ascertain the resource demand. The demand of nuclear power is expressed in uranium equivalents (given in kWh) for the energy production. It is thus possible to quantify resource demands in the inventory even for non-material energy resources. 1.6 Global warming When determining the climatic impact of a substance, the Global Warming Potential (GWP) is used. This is a measure of the effect on radiation of a particular quantity of the substance over time relative to that of the same quantity of CO2. The GWP depends thus on the time spent in the atmosphere by the gas, and on the gas's capacity to affect radiation, which describes the immediate effects on overall radiation of a rise in concentration of the gas. The GWP is calculated with combined climatic and chemical models and covers two effects: the direct effect a substance has through the absorption of infrared radiation and the indirect chemical effects on overall radiation. In the life cycle assessment of the end-of-life of plastic parts from ELVs, radiation effects due to CO2, methane (CH4) and nitrogen protoxide (N2O) are considered in the impact assessment. The GWP value for CO2 is chosen as equivalence factor. Considered over a time span of 100 years, methane should have a GWP CO2 value of 21, and N2O a GWP of 310. 1.7 Acidifying gas emission and Acidification of land and water In order to describe the acidifying effect of substances, their acid formation potential (ability to form H+ ions) is calculated and set against a reference substance, SO2.

A Study to Examine the Costs and Benefits of the ELV Directive Final Report Annexes

Table 1: SO2 Equivalence Factors of Various Acid Producers Acid producer (in air) 1 kg HCl 1 kg HF 1 kg NO2 1 kg SO2 1 kg H2S 1 kg NH4 1 kg NH3 1.8 Formation of photochemical oxidants As a measure for estimating airborne substances' potential for forming atmospheric oxidants, POCP (Photochemical Ozone Creation potential) values are used. The POCP value of a particular hydrocarbon is a relative measure of how much the ozone concentration measured at a single location varies if emission of the hydrocarbon in question is altered by the same amount as that of a reference hydrocarbon, usually ethylene. The POCP value is not a constant, but can very over distance and time, since formation of oxidants along the path of an air pocket is determined by the composition of the prior mixture and the meteorological conditions, which can also vary spatially and chronologically. In the LCA inventory, the greater part of the hydrocarbon emissions appears as group parameters (e.g. "NMVOC": non methanic volatile organic compounds, or "hydrocarbons, classified"). Therefore, the resulting value for this indicator may be considered as approximate. The characterised factors used in the Fraunhofer study are not detailed in the Fraunhofer report. 1.9 Nutrification of land and water (eutrophication potential) Additional input of plant nutrients into water can bring about excessive growth of water weeds (phytobenthon), free-floating plant organisms (phytoplankton) and higher plant forms (macrophytes). This does not only represent a change in the stock of a species, but also in the balance between species. Due to the increased generation of biomass and the consequently heavier sedimentation of dead organic material, the oxygen dissolved in deep water is consumed faster, through aerobic decomposition. This can lead to serious damage in the biological populations inhabiting the sediment. In addition to this, direct toxic effects on higher organisms, including humans must be taken into account when certain species of algae appear in mass. While phosphorus determines the degree of eutrophic activity in the majority of cases in the limbic area, in marine and terrestrial ecosystems nitrogen is most often the SO2 equivalence factor 0.88 kg eq SO2 1.60 kg eq SO2 0.70 kg eq SO2 1.00 kg eq SO2 1.88 kg eq SO2 0.89 kg eq SO2 0.93 kg eq SO2

A Study to Examine the Costs and Benefits of the ELV Directive Final Report Annexes

decisive factor. Equivalence factors suggested by CML (University of Leiden, 1992) are generally used in LCA. Table 2: PO4 equivalence factors of various substances Nutrient 1 kg Nitrogen oxides (NOx, air) 1 kg Total nitrogen (water) 1 kg Total phosphorous (water) 1 kg Chemical O2 demand (COD) 1 kg NH3 1 kg NH
4+ 32-

PO4 equivalence factor 0.13 kg eq PO4 0.42 kg eq PO4 3.07 kg eq PO4 0.022 kg eq PO4 0.35 kg eq PO4 0.33 kg eq PO4 0.095 kg eq PO4 0.13 kg eq PO4

1 kg NO 1 kg NO 1.10

Water pollution Water emissions are calculated as critical volume. For every emission a volume of water is calculated, which is necessary to ensure sufficient dilution to an acceptable effect level in the environment. The acceptable levels for the calculations in this study are based on the German legislation (waste water regulation from 1997). Table 3: Water pollution dilution factors of various substances (APME, 2003) Nutrient COD BOD Total N NH4 PO4 AOX Heavy metals Hydrocarbons Dilution factor (l/mg) 1 5 4 8 75 75 75 38

1.11

Impact categories which cannot be derived from life cycle inventory data Noise: it is not sensible to quantify noise emissions released within a global system (spatially and temporally located elsewhere) and to relate them as a sum parameter to an impact category. Odour: (see "Noise"). Nature conservation (biodiversity, etc.): cannot be derived from life-cycle inventory data. Land use: inventory data are quite differently documented for the different systems. Risk of nuclear accidents: cannot be derived from inventory data.